The seven-month investigation was led by Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
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House leaders say that campus antisemitism has extended beyond student encampments to university health-care systems and call on the National Institutes of Health to ensure that institutions receiving grants comply with federal law and provide a safe environment for all, particularly individuals of Jewish ancestry.
It’s one of 11 recommendations Republican lawmakers make in a chamberwide report on campus antisemitism, released Thursday after more than seven months of investigating.
Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, announced the House-wide investigation in April. This latest 43-page publication builds on a scathing 325-page report from the Education and the Workforce Committee, which was released in late October and detailed “shocking concessions” to protesters and how university leaders allegedly failed to meaningfully discipline students and faculty.
The committee and the House-wide effort were launched following a wave of antiwar protests on college campuses and a surge in reported antisemitic incidents after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
“It’s our intent to take this report, its recommendations, and act,” the speaker said in a news release about the report. “Make no mistake, we will continue these efforts in the next Congress, and anytime antisemitism rears its ugly head, the House will shine a light on it and take action.”
In addition to calling on executive agencies to enforce antidiscrimination laws and hold universities accountable for violations, the report demands that universities increase academic rigor and viewpoint diversity by addressing so-called monolithic perspectives of tenured faculty. It also suggests that Congress should terminate federal funding eligibility for any university that boycotts or divests from Israel.
“Universities must restore academic rigor and stop their programs from being platforms for intellectually bankrupt radicalization and indoctrination, including the perpetuation of antisemitic falsehoods,” the report reads. “Congress can help stop this madness by passing legislation,” it adds.
In addition to the education committee, the House-wide investigation included the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Oversight Committee, the Veterans Affairs Committee, and the Ways and Means Committee. Across the board, committee chairs agree there is a need for greater accountability, each proposing different ways to enforce it.
Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and chair of the Judiciary Committee, suggested tightening the enforcement of visa regulations for international student protesters. Representative Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican and chair of the Ways and Means Committee, pointed to tax policies as a way to penalize nonprofit organizations that “have ignored or even condoned intimidation, harassment, and violence.”
And Representative Mike Bost, an Illinois Republican and chair of the Veterans Committee, said the Department of Veterans Affairs must crack down on institutions benefiting from GI Bill funding to ensure they provide antisemitism protection for student veterans.
“On October 8th, the world saw that antisemitic hatred was alive and well at American institutions of so-called ‘higher’ education. As a result, the reputation of many of these schools has been in free fall,” Representative Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican and chair of the education committee, said in the release. “Stopping that free fall comes down to one word: accountability. We need accountability because without it, we cannot guarantee that Jewish students have the safe learning environment they deserve.”
